Issues in Sports Development in the UK - Case Study Example

Issues in Sports Development Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Issues in Sports Development 2 Introduction 2 Government policies and strategies 3 Youth sport strategy 3 School sports partnership 6 Sports Agencies 6 UK Sport Agency 6 English Institute of Sport Agency 7 Increase in gate prices since the 1970s 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Appendices 13 Issues in Sports Development Introduction In the United Kingdom, the government has put in place several policies and strategies to enhance development of sports. This initiative is aimed encouraging the youth to participate actively in the sporting events (Houlihan, 2000). The sporting events are not only beneficial to the country but also the participants. The government has also invested heavily on the sporting events to ensure success of the strategies being implemented. Several government agencies have also formed to implement the government strategies. The agencies ensure that the sporting events are well coordinated to achieve the targeted sporting goals. The strategies have led to the improvement of sports in the United Kingdom as the number of participants has tremendously increased. With regards to sports it is also important to note that the gate charges have been on the increase, affecting the attendance of the fans and the revenue collection. This is attributed to the difficulties in the economy due to recession and economic hardships. The paper critically discusses two policies put in place to ensure the development of sports and the issues of the increase in the gate charges. Government policies and strategies Youth sport strategy The youth strategy is aimed at encouraging the youth to participate in sports throughout their lives. The government strategy to target the youth at an early stage is for the purposes of ensuring that they participate in sporting activities throughout their lives. The government also noted that most of the youth possess great sporting talents which have not been explored. The support of the government is therefore aimed at recognizing the talent and ensuring that it is exploited. In order to inspire the youth and ensure the success of the strategy, the government has rolled out a five year plan. One billion pounds has been set aside to implement the strategy. Sports England is the implementing agency of the strategy. The department of youth media and sports has also been empowered to ensure that the talents have been enhanced. The department is also responsible for funding of eligible students performing in sports activities. This has led to the increase in the number of students participating in school games. It has also played an important role in creating a legacy from the Olympics and Paralympics games (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2012). The department is always funded by the government to ensure that the youth issues are addressed. The local coaches in the United Kingdom have also pledged their support for the strategy to ensure its success. The strategy is also for the purpose of linking the school with the local clubs as well as the national clubs in the United Kingdom. The main objective is to provide exposure to the youth who are still in school. The cultural issues affect changes and it shifts from the traditional way of funding the sports in the United Kingdom. The mission of the government policies is to ensure that the assessments are improved to enhance sports. The exposure of the youth to national experience plays an important role in ensuring that the skills of the youth are enhanced (Dismore, et al, 2009). Through the strategy, every secondary school is set to host a community sports club. This has a positive impact on the development of sports in the community. The secondary school students can thus interact with the members of the community in terms of sporting. This plays a significant role in enriching the sporting activities within the community. The support of the community is also important in terms of encouraging the youth to participate in the sporting activities. This strategy therefore has a positive impact on the development of sports in the country. The coaches at the community level can also get the chance to identify talents at an early stage. This plays an important role in the enhancement of sports among the community members. According to Racioppi, (2012), opening up the sporting facilities of the schools also plays an important role in increasing the participation of the students. The number of students participating will increase when the capacity is expanded. The availability of the sporting capacity as well as the equipment plays an important role in ensuring the growth and development of sports. This also has the ability of ensuring that the attitude of the youth towards sports is enhanced and hence the success of the policies and strategies (Green, 2004). The youth strategy is also for the purposes of encouraging the future performance of the youth in terms of sporting. The strategy is also for the purpose of ensuring that a third of the swimming facilities are located in schools. Three quarters of sports hall and artificial pitches are also located in schools. The strategy aims at ensuring that the sporting facilities are sustained and fifty million pounds has been set aside for ensuring that the facilities are maintained. This will have a positive impact on the sports as it ensures easy access of the youth to the sporting facilities. Drop off in sports participation has a negative outcome on the sporting activities. The government through the strategy has set aside one hundred million pounds to ensure that new clubs are established. The establishment of the new clubs will ensure that the participation of the youth in the sporting activities is increased. The funding of the governing bodies also plays an important role in ensuring that proper management of sports is achieved. The mission of the government is also restrategise the policies of the government regarding sports into three dimensions (UK Sport, 2012). Athletes system and climate are the governing principles that the government aims to incorporate in the sports. It is thus important to note that the adequate funding of the sports sector plays an important role in ensuring the success of the sports activities (Bailey, 2006). School sports partnership This strategic policy is aimed at ensuring that sports is enhanced from the primary school level and ensure the continued popularity of the sporting activities among the youth. According to Brown, (2011), through this policy, the schools are supposed to set aside one day for physical education. During this day, the schools are encouraged to ensure that there is a competitive sporting activity taking place. This is for the purpose of ensuring that the youth participate actively in sporting activities. Sports Agencies UK Sport Agency UK sport is an agency that is also concerned with the development of the sports in the country. The government has also set aside funds for the implementation of this policy. The funds will also be used for paying the teachers who participate in the physical education as they will be working outside the classroom. UK Sport Agency is an agency that will foresee the implementation of this strategy. The policy also seeks to encourage the youth with disabilities to engage in the sporting activities. This is for the purpose of ensuring that all the youth participate in sports and hence ensuring the popularity of the sports in future. The aims of the policy are also to ensure the participation of students in both inner and intra school competition. This initiative therefore plays an essential role in encouraging sporting activities in schools (Okely, et al, 2011). The government has also put in place measures to ensure that physical education curriculum is revised. This is for the purpose of ensuring that the sporting activities remain more competitive. This is for the purpose of ensuring the popularity of the sporting activities among the school going children. The establishment of the Olympic style school games is for the purpose of enhancing the quality of the games. This is also for the purpose of ensuring that the youth are conversant with the Olympic policies at an earlier stage. This will also play a big role in ensuring that the youth are more interested in sporting activities in the hope of participating in the Olympics games. It is also important to note that the Olympic Games is one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. Developing the games in a model similar to the Olympic Games thus plays an important role in encouraging the students to participate in the sporting activities. The policies also ensure that the Olympic style school games are adequately funded. This is through funding the activity using the lottery funding from sport England. The UK sports as an agency, has worked with schools in terms of promoting sports development efforts among the students. This sports agency has been responsible for the talent identification in most of the schools in the United Kingdom (Houlihan, 2009). It supports the coaching efforts as well as the improvement of sports in the country. This is for the purpose of ensuring a world class performance in sports through talent identification and nurturing. The lottery will thus ensure the sustainability of the program (Cale, 2011). English Institute of Sport Agency English Institute of Sport Agency is a nationwide network complex of expertise which aims at providing support to sports activities. It is generally concerned with performance impacting and the individuals. The agency works during the summer and winter in where Olympic and Paralympic are taking place. The agency played a greater role during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics games that took place in London. The agency is currently supporting 1700 athletes in the United Kingdom. In order to encourage a wider participation of the youth in the sporting activities in schools, the government is set to engage coaches and sports leaders on volunteer basis. On the other hand the cycling process of the youth can also be enhanced through some government measures in the society. The initiative of the government to provided traffic free facilities will also improve the process (Sport England, 2013). The sports leaders will play an important role in terms of encouraging more youth to participate in the sporting activities. The Youth sports trust is also set to expand its ambassador program. This is for the purpose of ensuring that each primary school and secondary school has a sports goodwill ambassador in the run up to the Olympics. The sports ambassadors will play a major role in ensuring the popularity of the sports among the youth. Some of the laws that discourage the competitive sports in schools have also been abolished by the government. This is for the purpose of ensuring that the schools are more autonomous during the decision making process in terms of sports. Other organizations have also thrown their weight behind the initiatives to support sports in schools. The sportscoach UK and the Association for PE have played an important role in ensuring the development of sports among the school gong children and the youth. The government has also acknowledged the support of these organizations and funded them. Adequate support of sporting activities among the youth is important in encouraging the popularity as well as the participation (Smith, 2010). The role played by sport England, UK sport and the department of culture media and sports has been quite successful and it has contributed positively to the development of sports among the students in the country. Increase in gate prices since the 1970s According to a case study, the gate prices have been on the increase since the 1970s. At one point it was more expensive to watch the games standing than to watch a high class movie seated. This is regardless of the charges for standing being the lowest in the stadiums. The trend is in relation with Highbury stadium which was the sporting stadium for Arsenal football club. The high expenses played a role in discouraging the fans from attending the matches. However the gate prices were cheaper before the 1970s. The increase in the prices affected both the adults and the children. This has an impact on the future of the sporting events. This is because if the children cannot afford the gate prices then clubs may end up with very few funs in future. This is an issue that has been highlighted in the case study. The fan admits that had he been twenty years younger, the chances of supporting Arsenal football club could be very low. The fan could afford to watch the Arsenal matches since his father could afford to pay for the gate prices. This was unlike the other children. It is thus evident that the gate prices have an impact on the support of a club by the fans. The increase in the gate prices therefore has a huge impact on sports in terms of attendance and support. The gate price has been increasing from the 1970s to the present day. This is due to various economical factors. Inflation is one of the economic factors that has greatly contributed to the increase in the gate prices in the recent past. England was greatly affected by inflation due to the nature of its economy. This had a negative impact on the prices of the commodities which had to rise. The gate prices were not exceptional. Gate prices rose to higher levels and have been continuing to rise due to inflation. The rise is for the purpose of enabling the clubs to deal with inflation as clubs are also affected. It is also important to note that the clubs relay on the gate prices for the purpose of generating revenues. Part of the revenue is for the payment of the players while some other percentages is for the purpose of paying the wages of the players. Inflation had a negative impact on the wages of the players and thus the increase in the gate prices. It is thus evident that the inflation that has been going on is responsible for the increase in the gate prices. The economical aspects play an important role in the development of sports. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that sports strategies are for the purpose of encouraging the youth to participate in sports. In the United Kingdom, the strategies and policies that have been put in place plays an important role in the sports sector. The government support in terms of funding had also promoted the growth of sporting activities in schools. On the other hand, it is evident that the involvement of other agencies has enabled the development of sporting activities among the youth. The gate prices have been on a steady increase since the 1970s. This is evident from a case study of a fun of Arsenal football club who has been attending to the matches for decades. However, it is evident that inflation and economic forces that are responsible for the increase in gate prices. References Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2012, Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12, The Stationery Office. 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Cale, L, 2011, learning about health through physical education and youth sport. Smith, A, 2010, ‘Evidence. What evidence?’: evidence-based policy making and School Sport Partnerships in North West England. International Journal of Sport Policy, 2(3), 327-345. Racioppi, F, 2012, Sport promotion policies in the European Union: results of a contents analysis, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. Brown, J, 2011, An investigation into the impact of a sport intervention in three London secondary schools, School of Sport and Education. Drayer, J, 2012, An examination of underlying consumer demand and sport pricing using secondary market data, Sport Management Review, 15(4), 448-460. Salaga, S, 2013, Determinants of Secondary Market Sales Prices for National Football League Personal Seat Licenses and Season Ticket Rights, Journal of Sports Economics. UK Sport, 2012, Mission 2012. Available at: Sport England, 2013, Creating sporting opportunities in every community. 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